Back in the Day:The Assassin
by The Grey Coincidence
Summary: Gutou Daisui lives a perfectly normal life. He goes to school and plays with his little brothers. It all changes though, when his father is executed...


"Have a nice day sweetheart!" His mother kissed him on the forehead, and handed him a small bag that was his lunch. Then she turned and waved him away. "Dinner will be ready by the time you get back!" But the young lynx had not heard her and scampered off excitedly into the town's school.

Gutou Daisui was the eldest and only son of the House of Daisui, which had once been a huge clan, but had since then fallen apart. He was the only son,but he had two adopted brothers. Suo, who was three and little Suijin who was two. Both were too young to go to school,however. He skipped inside happily, many eyes turned to him as he made his way through the crowd of children. That was expectable, he was quite a sight.

Gutou had been born with no fur, and everyone had said that he was an omen of bad luck in one shape or another. Yet he felt very lucky, he loved his family and he lived a very happy life. He wore a pair of red pants and a matching jumper. He walked into the school, with many, many unfamiliar faces.

His 'mother' watched him leave. She was not truly his mother, rather the house-maid who pretended to be. His mother had been killed in a Mongol Raid, while she had been at the Great Wall, travelling to her home. When he was older she would explain, but right now he was too young. The mere thought of death would scar him for life. She felt something slip into her pocket, and placed a paw within, withdrawing a small note,with hand-writing that made her heart stop.

* * *

Dajio Daisui was the head of the House of Daisui and a proud father of three. There was Gutou, his biological son, and eldest child, who had just gone to his first day of school. Next was Suo, a mongoose with darkish brown and reddish fur. He was the smallest in the family, and the quitest. As a baby he had never cried or wailed, merely look up with wonder. Last was Suijin Daisui. He was two years old, but had already suffered profusely. He had almost died at childbirth, and had come out bleeding. His parents rushed him to a doctor, and instead found Chi, an old camel and wanted criminal. Chi had ruined the child. Patches of blue, green and yellow fur had been sown and stitched on. He had retractable claws like a wolverine and for a tail he had a black,curling one, a scorpion's tail with a scorpion's stinger at the end of it. It was odd to think that he had once been a puppy. Though he was freakish in appearance he was still a child, and beyond adorable to Dajio.

The door opened and closed swiftly,and in walked a very pale and shaking Mei Yan.

She was not his wife, she was a house-maid and pretend mother for the children. And now she looked like she had seen a ghost.

"Are you alright?" He asked her warily, not wanting to offend her.

She broke down and held the note at arm's length,sobbing hysterically. He took one look at the note and wrapped her in a hug, letting her tears flow into his shoulder.

"Don't worry. You're safe here."

* * *

 _A few hours later…_

* * *

Gutou Daisui scampered off to his father the second he could. He looked pale and worried, but smiled nonetheless when he saw his son.

"How was your day?" He asked, taking Gutou's paw and leading him in the direction of their home, with long strides.

"It was a-mazing dad! I made lots of friends! There's Nuxiao, he's a pig-"

And Gutou listed all the names and faces he could remember. He was just getting to 'Lei Ni' when they walked in through the front door.

Gutou Daisui would never forget the scene,his mother had a rope drawn round her neck, the other end of the rope was tied to the chandelier,and her body was swaying slightly. In her paws were notes written in her own blood,her wrists had been sliced open.

"Mum?"

Gutou could never shake off the horrible memory. Not even if he tried. The town heard, and everyone discussed it in whispers. Every child picked up versions of the tale, and in the end noone wanted to be seen dead with Gutou. Loneliness made him run home to his brothers. He spent every waking hour with them. Tickling Suijin, telling Suo stories, playing games he had invented just for the three of them. And for a while he was happy. Until the day came… The day of the ghost.

* * *

It was a sunny morning, and Gutou yawned loudly. He rose from his bed, shaking sleep from his head. He was fifteen, and clambered off his bed, pulling on a red robe, with the sigil of his house stitched on in black. He rubbed his flabby cheeks, and yawned again. The young lynx then walked out of his room and onto the mansion's second floor landing. He made a bee-line for Suijin's room, pushing the door open to find his younger brother sleeping, snoring peacefully. He pulled off the blanket and got to work,pushing his claws up and down rapidly over the pads of Suijin's feet. The animal woke up giggling at first,but was soon brought to hysterical shrieks of laughter.

"Stop it Gutou! Stop! Stop!" He exclaimed through his laughter, his high-pitched voice barely audible through the echoing sound of his cackling.

Gutou only stopped when Duo's voice punctuated the laughter. "I guess it's good morning." The mongoose croaked, wiping his eyes free of sleep. Then he noticed Gutou, now helping the slightly dopey Suijin to his feet, and grinned. "It's your turn to make breakfast!"

It was an hour until they were done. Practically stuffed full of bean buns, and licking at empty plates.

"Is there any more?" Suijin asked, his scorpion tail swishing impatiently from side to side.

Suo gave a pretend scowl, and waved a claw in the air. "If you keep that up you won't fit on your bed anymore."

Gutou relaxed, stretching his paws above his head. "Do you reckon dad will be back today?" He asked iddly.

Suo shrugged. "He should be back soon, but you know dad's trips, you can't really place a claw on how long they'll take." The mongoose's fur was just as untidy as ever, a mess of brown and red. He wore a pair of pink spectacles that seemed to magnify his eyes, and a red pair of pants and matching shirt. He was easily the smartest of the three.

Gutou yawned again.

"You should head back to bed." Suijin offered, watching his older brother yawn again and again.

He wore a pair of red pants, but went shirtless so as not to disturb the stitches of green, yellow and blue fur.

"Nah, I'm fine. Just ate too much." Gutou closed his eyes,intent on taking a nap,when a gong sounded loud and clear from the center of Pinqu. Gutou's eyes snapped open. A gong could mean almost anything. "I'll check." Gutou rose slowly, and strolled out the door.

The walk to the village center was not a far one. He strolled past an abandoned sugar mill, and Constable Ho's office which neighboured it. He turned a corner. He could hear Li Dong's voice clearly as the Captain of the Guard read a list of crimes.

An execution? Gutou crawled through the crowd,with his size and his footwork he easily made it to the front.

That was when his heart stopped. Kneeling on the ground,in the shadow of Li Dong, stood Dajio Daisui. He was bleeding and had multiple bruises. Suddenly the day was less sunny.

"... For these crimes you are sentenced to death." Li Dong raised a greatsword.

Gutou was stunned. This couldn't be possible! His dad hadn't done anything!

The great sword fell, and as it flashed downwards Gutou screamed. Then his father's head had rolled off, and the feline's body twitched violently. Gutou didn't have eyes for anything else, he watched the dead body bleed out, with eyes that seemed to be covering themselves in water. This was all… A nightmare. Gutou practically fainted.

* * *

The following day was the worst of Gutou's life. He had dragged himself back home, and had gone straight to his room, with eyes wet with tears. He hadn't explained anything to Suo (who probably knew already) or Suijin (who was far... Far too young). He was reliving his nightmares again and again,waking up to see his mother swaying from the chandelier. There was a knock at his door and Suijin's voice followed. "Um, Suo says lunch is ready…if you wanted. And I was er,wondering whether you wanted to play at cards?"

Gutou could not believe a game as simple and happy as cards could exist. He tried to say something, to promise to play another time, or make some other excuse. But his throat made no words, and soon he heard Suijin slinking off somewhere, his scorpion tail dragging behind him on the ground.

Night came quickly, and Gutou heard Suo tuck Suijin into bed, and tell him a story- Suijin loved stories- before the mongoose's light footfalls led to Suo's own room. Gutou lay awake,staring up at the ceiling,unable to shake away the image of Dajio Daisui, who had been killed for… What crimes? His father had not been a criminal, he must have been framed, or falsely accused.

A dry voice cut through his thoughts. "I thought so too. Yet oddly,he didn't fight as much as I expected. He didn't even think of using me."

Gutou sat up suddenly,to see an odd thing floating through his floorboards. It was round and red, with two black eyes and a mouth in the center of it's head,which had two short horns jutting out. In one hand he was spinning a trident.

Gutou blinked in confusion. He was stunned into silence,this thing was not an animal,and had seemingly floated through the floor. And it had spoken of his late father.

"W-what are you?" Gutou asked aloud.

The red thing grinned. "I am a Yokai. A Celestial stripped of his powers and his true form. I like to call myself Kunxiao."

Gutou opened his mouth to ask what a Celestial was, but Kunxiao cut him off.

"Us Yokai's need hosts, when one host dies I must find another suitable candidate for myself. Dajio was my former host, I'd have come to you, but you don't fit the bill. A yokai needs something to mix with, your chi's not like your dad's. Anyways, as I was saying. I highly doubt of man Dajio would do anything to break the law, but there are some things he kept even from me." Kunxiao shrugged. "I suppose now that I can't bind with any of his children I must go elsewhere. Farewell Gutou." And with that he floated through the wall.

Kunxiao's visit, though not exactly heart-warming had burned away Gutou's greed, and replaced it with extreme curiosity. He had known very little about his father, and hadn't even known Kunxiao existed. And then there was the matter of his death. Burning with a desire to know more Gutou set off to his father's office.

He had never visited the room before, but it wasn't locked and well looked after. It was also almost empty. There was a desk pressed against the window, and Gutou found a crate under it. The crate was filled with nothing but empty papers. On the top of the desk were an odd amount of objects. Three lemons, a black candle, a liquid in a cup. Gutou took the cup out of curiosity, and sipped from it. It was warm and had a taste like a sour apple. Gutou spat it out, it landed on the papers in the crate and words suddenly began forming on them.

Getting the idea Gutou removed a sheet, and rubbed some of the juice over it. The words appeared on the paper and he read.

 _'Export, 75 yuan._

 _Import, 150 yuan.'_

Most of the papers were like this, with the import nearly always being double the export. Gutou was more confused than ever by these, and opened at last an old diary. The first page had nothing but two names, a third had apparently been crossed out at the bottom. The names were 'Scorpion' and 'Ho', but aside from Constable Ho Gutou knew none in the village with names like that. Unless it meant Constable Ho,but then who was Scorpion? He pressed on, reading more of his father's secrets in the dim moonlight.

 _'Dear Diary, today is the worst day of my life. I have heard news that my beloved wife was killed at the Great Wall along with all my children,save the youngest. He has no fur and is to be named Gutou.'_

But his mother had hanged herself, she hadn't died at the wall? And what other children? Gutou read further.

 _"Dear Diary,_

 _I have hired a house-maid of the name Mei Yan. She has taken a liking to Gutou, who believes her to be his mother. I have encouraged this rumour, so that my son will not live without the love of a mother."_

So his mum… Wasn't his mum? But then his life was a lie, why had she hanged herself?

 _"Dear Diary,_

 _Mei Yan is one of the family, as are little Suo and Sujin."_

 _"Dear Diary,_

 _Today I have realized the truth. Mei Yan is a protistute in the employ of Constable Ho. She has confessed his crimes, and her part in them. Ho is in league with some workings of the Underworld, and gives them safe passage through Pinqu. She is worried that Ho will come after her."_

 _"Dear Diary,_

 _Mei Yan's death has spurred me on to bring Ho to justice. I will document his activities, in the hope of finding proof."_

 _"I have a confession from Constable Ho."_

Gutou finished the book and out came a long scroll.

"I, Constable Ho-"

Gutou stopped reading. He would take this scroll to Li Dong tomorrow, Dajio Daisui had been framed. The Constable was covering his tracks.

Infuriated Gutou sat there, hating the injustice of it all. He felt his eyes watering and would have broken into sobbing had he not seen a shadow move inside. He flattened himself against a wall and waited for the intruder to come into sight.

It was a large, bright red scorpion, and with a sudden jolt in his stomach Gutou remembered the names he had read. She wore nothing but a cold look as she travelled upstairs to the second floor landing. Gutou waited a while before he pokes his head out. The house was silent, save for the creaking of Suijin's door as he watched the scorpion tale disappear inside.

Panic filled Gutou. He raced up the stair three at a time, and kicked open the door to his brother's room with a loud yell. Suijin sat up suddenly, his fur sticking out on end, his tail disappearing into the blankets.

"Whatisit?" He mumbled sleepily, frightened by the scared look in Gutou's face.

"Suijin we need to leave, we're not the only ones in the house." He pulled off his brother's blankets and pulled the frightened puppy out of bed. Then they turned around to see a blade coming for them. Gutou pushed Suijin back onto the bed and took the blow to the shoulder without any hesitation. He screamed at the pain as his blood dripped around the blade now stuck in the top of his arm. He threw a clumsy kick at his assailant, but the red scorpion had dodged, and reared her tail end up to bring it's poisoned tip into Gutou's back, but Suijin had thrown her attack off course by launching a pillow at her. With another stab of pain the blade was removed from Gutou's shoulder. Gutou screamed again, and kicked wildly, clutching the now bleeding wound. Then to his panic the scorpion pounced on Suijin. Forgetting any pain Gutou grabbed her by the tail and pulled her out of reach of his brother.

Suo came into the room, looking extremely confused,then he noticed the dire situation and panicked. He screamed and grabbed the nearest thing he could find and threw it at the scorpion. It had been a book.

Annoyed more than anything the Scorpion snapped the book in half with her pincers, before throwing Gutou off her. She took one step towards Suo, and was flattened when Suijin pushed his cupboard down on top of her. There was a loud splatting noise, and Suijin gulped, looking both very pale and very green.

"D-d-did I ki-" He was whimpering, looking at his paws in horror.

"You did the right thing." Suo said soothingly. "Gutou, you should bandage that. I'll help. Can someone tell me what happened though?" The mongoose continued,stepping gingerly over the scorpion's ugly twitching limbs.

By the time Gutou was done explaining what he found and Suo was done cleaning and putting a bandage over his wound it was morning.

There was a silence. Suijin had cried himself to sleep upon hearing about the death of their adoptive father, who had been very kind to him.

Suo was looking confused and wondering what to do. Gutou was silent. Eventually he broke the silence.

"Ho tried to kill us. He sent the scorpion. He killed dad." Gutou thought of all the horrible ways to kill the hated Constable. There was the sugar mill…

"Gutou don't do anything stupid." Suo said flatly. "When Suijin wakes up we'll go to the Imperial Army."

Gutou nodded. But would the Imperial Army listen,would they truly listen to three children? And then even if they did, what would happen to Ho? Would he go to Jail? And live his long life alone but happy? He had tried to kill them. He deserved death.

"I'm going for a walk." He said suddenly, springing to his feet,and before Suo could stop him he was out the door.

Cool, fresh air swept over him. It was a pleasant morning to go for a stroll, but stroll he did not. Gutou walked with a purpose, taking long strides towards the Constable's office next to the abandoned sugar cane field. Why it had been abandoned was anyone's guess. It must have been very successful, as only one worker was needed on each of the massive sugar crushers, large enough to crush an elephant into an unrecognizable pulp. Gutou didn't grin or feel revolted. Only one thought propelled him. This was justice.

* * *

Constable Ho heard the door click open and stand slightly ajar.

"What is it?" He demanded. He had a very sore headache, and was feeling incredibly wrong-footed that morning. He rose shakily- and was promptly punched in the crotch by a small, hairless lynx, who pushed his wobbling knees backwards, and let the elephant's head slam onto the desk with a loud crash.

The rest was simpler, but took far more time. Gutou lugged the great,grey form through his window, before draghing him to one of the sugar mills. It was hard work, and took him all morning, but steeling himself he managed to lift Constable Ho (with the aid of the sugar mill's tools) and chain him above one of the sugar crushers, a huge slab of stone that turned against a flat slab of rock at the pull of a rope. Exhausted, Gutou lay against the rock, waiting for the Constable to wake up. He had gagged the elephant with his own clothes, and the nude mammal could barely move in the chains, let alone hope at escaping or call for help. But Gutou wanted him to know it all. Admiring his work Gutou went home to pick up his evidence.

* * *

"Hey Gutou, how's your shoulder?" Came Suijin's voice just as Gutou stuffed the evidence into his pockets.

"Oh it's er-fine. I'm just going to get it checked up and then we can go to the Imperial Army and hand over the stuff."

"Why are you taking it with you then?"

"I er-don't want to loose it. Anyways I'll catch ya later!" Gutou gave his head a good noogie before he went out the door.

* * *

Ho woke up,his head throbbing. He was in great pain and something cold and hard had wrapped themselves around his body, in a great steel hug. He had his clothes in his mouth and couldn't even breathe through that orifice. He was dangling it seemed, over the Sugar mill's sugar crusher… But he had been in his office before.

"Good. You're awake." A voice came from behind him, but he could not see who it was.

Gutou Daisui slunk into view. He held up a paw and a triumphant look.

"Tell me, about Scorpion." Ho's eyes widened suddenly as Gutou withdrew a small book from his robes. "And you. It's odd that the day my dad dies, a scorpion comes calling and attacks me,isn't it?" He indicated his bandaged shoulder. "And a signed confession of your crimes. It would be very easy to throw you behind bars, wouldn't it?"

Ho was sweating, his eyes were wide.

"But then you'd be alive… And my dad would be dead. Now that's not really fair. Of course giving you an execution would be too nice. Too quick. I prefer to do things slowly."

He wrenched a chain and Constable Ho's tightly bound toes squeezed into the gap between the stone slabs used for grinding sugar.

Ho was panicing now, struggling hopelessly and trying to scream. But all that camr out were muffled sounds of fear. Then there was a loud, sickening crack, as the round stone slab crushed into the other one.

Ho was in agony, his face was wet with tears, but he still found no voice to use, the muffled shouts were louder now, but just as hopeless.

Blood ran around the stone as it flattened the elephant, squeezing flesh and crushing bone. It was pain like no other. Ho's knees were next, and with a tremendous pull Gutou pulled the stone slab forwards over Ho's knees, with a loud explosion of snapping. By this time the elephant had passed out, but Gutou continued. The constable would never wake up- he would personally see to that. The large stone rolled over his hips,taking them down with even more squirts of blood and crunch of bones. Next was his huge belly, the fat was squeezed by the large weight of the stone, and a new smell came out. It was the scent of shit, though Ho would never see another toilet again. Then there was a plethora of cracking as the elephant's ribs were pulled into the crimson painted stone. He would go straight to Li Dong afterwards, and hand over the evidence against Ho. By now all that was left was his head, and with many loud cracks bits of skull ripped through flesh and brains went flying like maggots. Then there was nothing left but blood, shit, bone-dust, bits of brain and sludged up flesh lying in a great stinking pile. Gutou then went back home, he would pick up his brothers and leave town for the Imperial Army. They would hold an investigation and then justice would fall on all those that had wronged him.

* * *

"Hey Suijin, have you seen Gutou, he said he went for a walk earlier today but I haven't seen him all day, have you heard from him?" Suo stopped dead when he saw the towering figure of Li Dong standing in his doorway.

"Hello." He had a sword drawn, and was blocking the only exit. He noted the look in the crocodile's eye and added the sword to that equation.

 _"SUIJIN RUN!"_ The blade flew at his head, and he only just missed getting his head sliced off. His sudden movement however, obliterated his spectacles and made him loose balance. He fell hard on his back and was punched in the nose once. The small mongoose stood no chance against the crocodile's giant fist. There was a tremendous crack as his whole snout bent at an ungodly angle. And Suo knew no more.

 _"NOOOOO!"_ The howl of pain and battle cry was followed up with Suijin jumping off the second floor landing and cutting into the crocodile's thick hide with sharp claws and his scorpion tail. "You killed him!" Suijin wailed, biting at the crocodile's head with his small fangs. Tears were streaming down his eyes thickly as he felt hot blood rush into his mouth. He could scarcely see for all the water in his eyes. "F-f-fix him!" Sujijin begged, simultaneously trying to rip the crocodile's face into ribbons.

Li Dong howled with pain, before effortlessly slicing through Suijin with his sword. The hybrid fell, blood swelling around his middle, his eyes soaked in tears. Beside him were both Suo's shredded spectacles and the mongoose's limp body, his snout bent at an impossible angle.

This was the sight that greeted Gutou as he entered the house.

"No." He whispered so quietly he could barely hear himself. The world spun-he was dizzy, this couldn't be happening. It was just a nightmare… he saw the crocodile swinging for him.

Gutou ducked, the sword flew into the wood and snapped through it. Gutou scrambled away from the next swing and dodged another. He knew why Li Dong was here… There had been a third name… One that his father had crossed out. Dajio Daisui had trusted him and died. Gutou dodged again, Li Dong's blade cut a vase in two, Gutou stumbled away, he tripped over Suo and landed on his back. He rolled away as the blade sliced the floor he had fallen on moment's ago. Gutou saw his only hope in the chandelier. It was held up by a rope, next to Suijin and hung over the center of the room.

"Please, we won't do anything. Take the proof, destroy it." Gutou flung the sheets of paper at Li Dong, and threw his diary in the center of the room.

The crocodile chuckled as he snatched the papers. "You play a good game."

"The diary's on the floor." Li Dong turned and picked it up. Gutou sprinted for the rope. The croc pulled two flints from his pocket and in one smack lit a fire. The papers were aflame, Dajio Daisui's lifework was gone. Li Dong chuckled and turned to Gutou.

"I can't leave any-" the final bit of rope gave way, and the chandelier clattered to the ground. It's decorative tip sliced through scales and skull and Li Dong was dead before he hit the floor. Gutou turned to Suijin, his eyes were unfocused, he was wet with blood. It was too late for Suo, but his youngest brother couldn't just die.

"Hey Suijin, don't worry. It'll be fine. I'll get you cleaned up-"

"What about Suo?" He asked, still not focused.

Gutou could not bring himself to tell the truth, and tried to clear up the blood.

"I'm scared Gutou. I'm scared…"

"Don't be! It will be okay! You got that? It will be just like normal!"

Suijin looked at Gutou, his eyes focused. "I'm not gonna live am I?" He was brave to admit it, but Gutou would not. Even so Suijin was shaking like a leaf.

"No you _won't!_ Don't die Suijin. Listen to me. It's an order. _DON'T DIE!"_ A note of panic entered his voice, Suijin's eyes rolled upwards, and he breathed no more. Gutou threw himself onto his brother and sobbed the night away.

* * *

He remembered little. He had spent most of his time crying, and when his eyes ached and he slept he woke up, wishing it had all been a cruel dream, and that he could go and wake up Suijin, and play and laugh away the day. It wasn't a nightmare… It was real life. He was lying on a stone floor that was practically frozen. The little straw under him gave no protection. He shivered, and as the memories returned his eyes were aflush with tears. He shivered and whimpered as his tears seeped out, feeling red hot against his frozen cheeks.

There was a sound of shuffling, and something getting dragged. Then a small rat came into view. It had grey fur all over amd bright blue eyes. It wore red clothing, but Gutou couldn't tell what as his vision was blurred from the tears. A large cloak was draped over him by the rat.

"Hey kid." He said in a voice that was incredibly tender. "Take some advice from a guy who's been through shit. You can't cry forever. And whoever you lost won't come back by tears. Loose them now or you won't last long in a place like this. The name's Jixiao, and I am going to help you survive this, but like I said, you need to loose those tears now." And he withdrew a large handkerchief. Gutou blowed hard into it. He had come this far… For Suo and Suijin… He could go further.

* * *

 _Footnote: This was meant to be a halloween special, but I already have another one in the works so why wait to post this?_

 _This is the rework of Haunted House that I promised, as you can see the writing's better and so is the plot I think. And the title is just...really good. So anyways I hope you enjoyed reading this!_


End file.
